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Letters to Cyclingnews - June 19, 2008

Here's your chance to get more involved with Cyclingnews. Comments and
criticism on current stories, races, coverage and anything cycling related are
welcomed, even pictures if you wish. Letters should be brief (less than 300
words), with the sender clearly identified. They may be edited for space and
clarity; please stick to one topic per letter. We will normally include your
name and place of residence, but not your email address unless you specify in
the message.

Is this like the Olympics, where athletes, highly paid professionals and non
paid amateurs alike get used to provide a spectacle for promoters of a mega
dollars TV contract?

And once again the promoters get richer and the athletes get abused, and nothing
seems to change.

Seems to me, it could change one of two ways. It could get stricter, like the
NCAA and force everyone to become more corrupt/devious. Or it could become more
equitable like the NFL and give everyone a piece of the TV pie, in a growing
world market.

The ASO is obviously opting for the status quo, they like their pie. Greedy
people and organizations will always take the myopic approach at the expense
of the sport. Cycling is not in good hands.

Free us from the ASO, in my opinion, they don't have cycling's best interest
at heart.

ASO's world domination

It appears that Pat McQuaid’s belief that ASO are trying to supplant the UCI
are well founded.

With ASO’s latest announcement that they have
signed an agreement with AEG coming on the back of the purchase of a stake
in Unipublic, they are quite clearly trying to gain control of world cycling
and are going about it in a very aggressive manner. What happened to respecting
the traditions of the sport and the genteel manner? This is just driven by power
and greed.

ASO whinge and complain that the UCI are going beyond their role as a governing
body, yet they behave in a hostile manner towards the governing body by gaining
control over the majority of cycling races and then running them outside the
control of UCI. These actions are doing more to tear apart the sport we all
love than any doping scandal ever will.

You don’t see any football (soccer) tournament directors trying to replace
FIFA. ASO’s self serving interests of profit have no place in the running the
sport and should be stopped.

Ban Boonen?

Lighten up Mr. Hartigan! Ban Boonen from the Tour? Yeah, I kind of agree with
that. But all humans make mistakes, well maybe not all judging by the tone of
your letter, but Tom should be allowed to make amends, especially since this
is his first screw up.

Ban Astana? What exactly has the current Astana team done wrong? This season!?
Please give us some examples of why the current Astana team should be banned
from races this year. We’re waiting...

If any team should be banned from the Tour it should be Rabobank, not Astana.

As for "zero tolerance for drug use in professional sports" ...well drugs are
a social problem, embedded in society, we better try zero tolerance for all
of us first,

Ban Boonen? Beware the inquisition

Zero Tolerance, Yes. However, the administrating and organizing bodies of pro
cycling do not, nor should they, have the right to make moral judgements outside
the realm of the rules of the sport.

That jurisdiction lies within the courts of the given country. According to
the UCI, it appears that Boonen has not broken any rule that would prevent him
from competing. Patrick LeFevere's comments in regard to Boonen the cyclist,
and Boonen the man, are the most cogent I've seen in print so far.

It is understandable that Christian Prudhomme wants the Tour to be beyond reproach.
I would caution him to be judicious in the use of his power, lest he take on
shades of The Grand Inquisitor.

There is zero tolerance within the rules, and then there is zero tolerance
with ignorance. We would all do well to heed the difference.

Boonen

I get so frustrated with some of the correspondents on here, who cannot seem
to distinguish between "drugs in sport", i.e. doping, and recreational drug
use.

If the drug is not performance enhancing, then the argument is not about doping.
Period. If he'd had a few beers or a cigarette after a race, would it be a concern?
Is that doping? No, obviously not. Either is his cocaine use.

The regulatory body has made the determination that out of competition it's
not a problem, so it's allowed (in their eyes). They don't make the law; they
make the rules of cycling. Which he has not broken.

There is a valid argument to be made about the ramifications of using an illegal
drug, bringing the sport into disrepute, tarnishing his sponsors, all those
things. And this is the discussion that should be undertaken. If disciplinary
action is to be taken, so be it. But talking about doping and comparing this
somehow to Operation Puerto is infantile and reactionary. We can only hope that
the regulatory bodies show a little more vision and impartiality.

Boonen vs. Petacchi

Cocaine doesn't have a positive effect on athletic performance (although it
may have a safety component). Salbutamol enhances athletic performance.

Boonen was found to have misused a drug outside of competition. Petacchi was
found to have misused a drug during competition.

And what evidence is there that the "extra puffs" were really taken after the
stage and not during? Let's see, couldn't it have gone something like this...
"Wow, I really don't have my legs today. I'll just take a couple extra puffs
now, and pretend the extra puffs came afterward. Hey, I might even 'volunteer'
my 'mistake' after the stage, and everyone will believe me because I volunteered
it." But even if it happened exactly the way Petacchi described it, it was against
the rules, and may have aided his overnight recovery.

Cocaine is illegal.
Salbutamol is legal.

So, our comparison tells us that while Boonen is a law-breaker, Petacchi is
a cheat. If we perceive these as different types of offenses, with different
effects on competitive cycling, then perhaps they should be publicized differently
and analysed differently. But if a "bad guy" is a "bad guy" regardless of circumstances
and effects, then surely our treatment of Boonen should mirror our treatment
of Petacchi.

Boonen's Tour exclusion

It is a tough one, for sure. On the one hand Tom Boonen was not in competition
when he tested positive for cocaine. It is only natural that he is not penalised
in an official capacity (by the UCI). But individual races do have a right and
responsibility to defend the reputation of their event.

If the Tour de France allowed Boonen to race now what would they be saying
to young men who idolize him and try to imitate everything he does on a bike?
Hell, I am 29 years old and I like to pretend I could race up and down the Koppenburg
like Tomeke... But lets face it, a naive 12 year-old boy may not have the wits
to realise that blasting a rail of cocaine before riding a bicycle just might
not be a great idea. I say that the Tour is spot on this time around.

Giro d'Italia

Do you have any idea of what kind of mental preparation needed for a three
week race and how they make race plans leading up to the event?

Lance Armstrong is an exception when it comes to preparation to three week
races, but try to put yourself in Alberto Contador place laying on the beach
with your family all set for a family holiday, and all of a sudden you are being
told that you are going to take part in the hardest Giro ever? To change your
mindset and get ready for that in less than a week and go on to win is a fantastic
achievement! And doing so with a fitness that was not even close to last years
TDF victory tells you what kind of class act we have been treated to!

And when you say that he took advantage of the "others" and let them do the
job it appears even clearer to me that cycling isn’t something you guys know
much about!

And when he beats Ricco with 2 min. in the last time trial I don’t understand
what makes Rico the real winner or anyone else for that matter? Are they real
winners because they were able to win a stage and the lose 2 minutes on the
next?

Have you forgotten what Contador did in last years TDF? If he had the same
preparation to this Giro as he had to last years TDF he would have played with
the others in the mountains.

Winning a 3 week race is about tactics, skills and a bit of luck. Contador
had really bad luck when he had to ride the entire Fedia climb with a destroyed
back wheel, but he was really "lucky" to see how Danilo Di Luca wasted his efforts/strength
during the first week.

Contador is a real big champion and he will win a lot of Grand Tours over the
next 5 years, whether you like it or not.

Giro d'Italia #2

This years instalment of the Giro proved without a shadow of a doubt that Alberto
is the best rider in the world at this point in time. Even if he was given ample
time to prepare for the race and have everything in place before the race he
would still be in pink when all is said and done. He came to the race with one
goal in mind and that was to win.

The winner of a tour such as the Giro or the Tour is the singular person with
the fastest overall time. The sign of a great rider is when the rider shows
control over his surroundings. If the rider knows he will continue to lead the
race and possibly increase his lead there is no need for him to take the glory
and honour of winning a stage away from a rider not close to the overall GC.
Grand tours are founded on chivalry. A rider that in no way can contend for
the overall win that busts his hump on a particular stage deserves to win that
stage. For the race leader to sit on his wheel and than out sprint him in the
final kilometres is completely unethical.

To say that Alberto is not the "true champion" could not be more wrong. He
rode the most intelligent race and did not let emotion consume him. He managed
to keep his composure throughout the race. Ricco became aggressive and angry
and down right disrespectful as the Giro went
on.

I understand that he was upset about being behind Alberto with only 4 seconds
separating them. He should have conducted himself better and done what a true
champion does, let your legs do the talking. The race of truth brings out the
true champions and separates the men from the boys. It is the ultimate test
of mental strength along with physical power. From what I saw Ricco rode like
an angry boy and blew up, while Alberto rode like a composed champion and powered
to a victory.

The Giro shows that to be champion there is one thing you need more than any
other attribute, the will to win. To not win a stage but still defend his position
along with a brilliant fight to keep the jersey when he lost it on the road,
shows the confidence and mental discipline of Alberto. My hat goes off to Alberto
on his Giro win. He is a true champion and he exhibits every aspect of a great
cyclist. I am excited to see where he will lead the sport in the future.

iPods while riding

I would agree that more and more people are wearing iPod’s while riding. I
am one of those. I ride on a regular basis in one of the worst states for cycling
(cycling safety); South Carolina. I agree that some people should not be listening
to music while riding due to the fact that their handling and awareness skills
are shaky at best.

On the other hand, I feel music definitely helps me with training efforts and
helps keep me focused. I usually ride with only one earpiece in, normally my
right ear. I am able to hear oncoming traffic from the rear or communication
from other riders. Personally I think iPods have their good side and bad while
cycling depending on the rider, but the play list definitely helps keep the
cadence up!!!

iPods while riding #2

Jim in Fort Wayne has made a very good point in his letter about riders listening
to iPods on the road. I would like to expand on his point by asking riders to
think about the difference between safety and protection. Protection on our
bikes, which is an important consideration, is most often provided from helmets
and gloves. These are "last line of defence" items meant to minimize damage
after one has crashed.

Safety measures keep one off of the ground in the first place; eye wear, proper
bike fit, brake adjustment, appropriate tire pressure and most importantly-
bike handling basics. In this new age of carbon fibre forks and pre-built wheels,
I wear a helmet most of the time.

A helmet even saved my life once when I crashed racing at the track. A helmet
does not help to keep one safe however. Using both eyes, both ears, years of
experience and pro-active defensive riding still is not enough to make one safe
on the dangerous roads of the world - but it is better than using less!

It angers me to be given a safety lecture on the rare occasion that I choose
not to wear my helmet. Comments most often come from a stranger with ear buds
in, arms locked, clip-on aero bars mounted pedaling squares down the road like
a snake on the shoulder! It is a sign of the times; an uncritical consumerist
perspective of purchasing "safety" in the form of a Styrofoam hat.

Oval bars

My personal (and therefore our company) philosophy is that "Oversized = Fatter,
Heavier, Slower". There is no reason to add more weight or frontal area to your
road bike and the Pros know it.

The Oversized 31.8mm "standard" is a bad Italian fashion developed when the
Italians did not have the efficient butting and swedging technology to offer
a safe, reasonably priced, 220 gram road bar. Now that everyone has high quality,
reasonably price, triple butted alloy bars made in Asia, and good companies
make good carbon fibre road bars in 26.0, O/S 31.8 should die - at least for
road bikes.

The strange thing is that all our sponsored teams since the company was founded,
including Silence-Lotto, Slipstream and even the old Liberty Seguros squad asked
for 26.0. We make both sizes as the market right now demands both sizes but
I did not ask nor demand that our teams use either size.

Big Magnus Backstedt is not afraid of breaking his Oval 26.0 bars and stems
on his TT bike for the Tour or his road bike for Paris-Roubaix. Robbie McEwen
demands bars that are super stiff for his incredible power sprints and he loves
our R701 classic bend bars in 26.0. I repeat - there is no reason to add more
weight or frontal area to your road bike and the Pros know it.

Road rage incident

Rob, I'll take a slightly different approach to the red light issue for a moment.
Imagine this scenario: A red light, with a line of cars behind, and a cyclist
next to the curb. A one lane road. Let's even put some parked cars across the
other side of the intersection, which will force the cyclist into the lane of
traffic once he/she crosses the intersection. No cars coming across the intersection
from left or right. The 3 possibilities are:

1. Wait for the light to turn green, gun it across the intersection (most cyclists
can cross a small intersection before the cars can), and veer into the middle
of the lane to go around the parked cars, blocking progress of the line of cars
behind you.
2. Go through the red light, pass the parked cars, and get 0.5-1.0 km up the
road before the traffic catches up with you, by which time you're up to a good
cruising speed, out of the traffic lane and not impeding their progress, and
therefore not aggravating them as "another friggin' lycra-wearin' nancy-boy".
3. Wait for the light to turn green, wait for the line of cars to pass you,
then proceed across the intersection and on your merry way. But why should YOU
have to wait?

Another scenario: Cyclist moves to the middle of the road with a double line
to make a turn into a side street (a left turn in the US, a right turn in Australia).
A line of cars comes up behind the rider. There are no oncoming cars as far
as the eye can see. The rider can:

1. Hold his/her ground - they have the right to be there to make the turn,
and screw the traffic behind them!
2. Cross the double line in the middle of the road and ride up the opposite
lane (i.e. against the non-existent oncoming traffic), thereby allowing traffic
to flow smoothly past him/her, while he/she makes the turn into the side street.

Not all of these options are legal. However, some of the illegal ones improve
traffic flow and show an awareness of the impediment to cars that a bike often
imposes and try to minimize the impact and are just common sense. I know what
I would be doing.

Tom Boonen exclusion from Tour de Suisse

If I am not mistaken this was one of the guys caught up in the original Festina
affair. He is somebody I would expect to make more constructive comments. I
am sure that there is no easy solution to the problems of chemical ingestion
in our beautiful sport, but I am also sure that close minded comments by ex
dopers do present a step forward but a step backward. We need to rehabilitate
errant cyclists, not send them to their rooms.

"We want to make a point and emphasise that we will not put up with any rider
who behaves that way." - Tour de Suisse Director Armin Meier offers criticism
of Boonen's behaviour

Tom Boonen exclusion from Tour de Suisse #2

I have to laugh at the letters written (Tom's Nose and Exclusion for the Tour
of Suisse) that state that Tom Boonen has earned the right to take cocaine and
that many moral and upstanding people of his age partake in illicit drug use
and that it's somehow okay to do so. What idiocy!

The bottom line is that cocaine is illegal to possess, to use and to sell or
buy. For very good reasons. I wonder if these letter writers have ever seen
the damage that cocaine use can do to individuals, families, communities and
to society at large. Cocaine is a dangerous drug and a person can die the first
time they use it.

A little too much of a "hot load", a little problem with the heart... You just
never know, do you? And I haven't even addressed the subject of addiction!

Tom Boonen's sponsors and employers pay him very large sums of money to race
bikes. He knows all the rules regarding all drug use as dictated by sporting
authorities. He knows the laws as dictated by Belgian law, and yet he still
does the wrong thing. He's tested all the time and any time like all the pros.
What on earth was he thinking?

Yes, he's human like all of us and we all mistakes. But, I do think Tom Boonen
is pro cycling's latest candidate for the starring role of the new "Dumb, Dumber,
and now Dumbest" film! As for the two writers of those two (Tom's Nose and Exclusion
from the Tour of Suisse) letters...well, they'd be my top picks for the supporting
roles.

March 6: Zirbel
and the"ride of his life", British track sprinters' helmets, Hamilton, Operacion
Puerto and the ToCA, Three grand tours or five monuments?, Rock Racing and
Michael Ball, Pro cycling is dead, Paris - Nice, Knife between the ribs?,
Doping and the Tour, Astana, the ASO and the UCI, ASO vs. Astana, The Astana
affair, ASO vs. UCI vs. AIGCP vs. the non existent riders, The real ASO problem,
Denounce ASO's actions for what they are, Sponsorship code of ethics, Where
are the other ProTour teams?, ProTour vs. ASO

February 28: ASO
vs. Astana, Passion and sponsorship, Crash or crash through, Pro cycling is
dead, Why we must have the ProTour, Rock Racing and Michael Ball, ToC and
Rock, The hidden message behind banning Astana, ASO is killing cycling, ASO
could be right, The real ASO problem, UCI - draw a line in the sand, ASO has
lost the plot, The Astana affair, Astana and ASO/RCS, the Astana decision,
Operacion Puerto, Old rider classification

February 1: UCI
vs. Grand Tour war, Best wishes to Anna, The incident, Rock racing & Starbucks,
Rock racing Rocks, Rock racing, Landis in NUE, Lance is the best of all time,
Sinkewitz logic, Astana for 08 Tour?

January 25: Rock
racing, Time to draw a line in the sand, ASO vs. UCI ProTour, UCI vs. Grand
Tour war spills over to European federations, Readers' poll stage races 2007,
Cyclist of the year, Team High Road's black kit, Lance is the best of all
time, Landis in NUE, Toyota-United abusing USAC team rules?

January 18: Cadel
Evans - returns to training, Cyclist of the Year, DOPING - time to draw a
line in the sand, Hincapie in T-Mobile kit, Lance is the best of all time,
Readers poll: best stage races 2007, Rock racing, Speaking about Lance, Toyota-United
abusing USAC team rules?

Letters 2007

December 14: Sydor's
consistency, George Hincapie, Helmet straps must be cinched a bit too tight,
Will there soon be a sample"C"test?, ProTour, Vino's joke of a suspension,
Mafioso McQuaid, Obee and Health Net, Mayo's B sample to get B test, Campagnolo
offers its own 'red' shifter, T-Mobile's withdrawal a blow to Jaksche